Previously, devices were marketed in attempts to provide continence through stomal occlusion by foam plugs having a coating. However, the foam structure in combination with the coating did not provide sufficient permeability to gases for relief while in situ. Other devices used charcoal and other odor absorbing technologies to capture waste and emitted flatus, such as in bag appliance. However, these odor “scrubbing” agents have had the disadvantage of not being protected by an effective occluding barrier to moisture. Thus, the odor scrubbing media have often failed due to unavoidable body fluid contact with the media.
Tampons, such as those marketed under the registered trademark TAMPAX, and other tampon-like products have been produced from fiber materials with the intent of occluding body fluids for other purposes. None of these materials have been transferred to the application of occluding the gastrointestinal tract through stomas or secondary access systems, such as catheters, stents or ports. A plug device, marketed under the trade name “Conseal” is the only known products that has been used in an attempt to occlude access to the GI tract through a stoma, while self-expanding an anchoring foam bolster that encountered both gases and liquid/solid matter. The Conseal plug essentially occluded all substances through the plug, including gases, and thus is unsatisfactory for the present usage contemplated.
The known art, where applied to GI tract access has provided occlusion of contents, including gas, so as to not allow soiling at the skin level access to the device. The attempts to use open-cell foams of high hydrophilicity for swelling and creating a sealing mechanism are largely ineffective at allowing sustained gas release through the foam of the device. Other known devices offer complete occlusion of GI tract contents without discriminating between the release of produced gases and solid or liquid waste.